Jumping up from the cold, metal bench, the girl’s hands fly in the air as her teammate scores the winning run. Her exhilaration echoes across the entire field: she loves the game. She loves learning it, watching it, and developing her skills, but the one thing she loves even more, is not playing.

There is no perfect method of coaching that is better than another, but they all depend on the person being coached. Coaches should explain to their players before they join the team about what they should expect for the season. A student should know before they commit whether the style of the sport will fit their abilities, whether it is physical or mental. For example, if a student joins a sport thinking that it will be an easy breezy sport to learn and have fun, they will get mentally thrown off when they realize they have committed to a sport that demands more than they can give.

I played JV women’s softball my freshman year and made my way up to varsity for my sophomore year. JV women’s softball was a great fit for me because the coaching style paralleled my ideal manner of instruction. However, once I began playing varsity I realized that the coaching was delivered in a way that I could not physically or mentally respond to.

I was misled by JV softball into thinking that varsity would offer the same coaching style that I was comfortable with. It drove me to a point of complete mental exhaustion, which led to me quitting a sport that I really liked playing.

It was not because of any of the coaches or their coaching styles, but simply because I could not handle the competitive atmosphere. People respond to different types of coaching in different ways but the coaches should clearly define their goals for the team and what they expect of their players, in an effort to make sure both coach and player goals are consistent.

In addition, it is the students’ responsibility to make sure that they know what the coaches are expecting from them when they join the team. If someone is interested in a sport but does not desire the competitive nature that comes with it, they need to find another way to participate.

We may all agree that team sports are places where anyone can build community and learn new skills, but we have to make sure that both sides are informed and understand what type of community is being offered and the skills required to participate.

I encourage the school and students to create more intramural sports to allow every student to have athletic opportunities. A current example is the entirely student run Piedmont Ultimate Team, which is centered around engaging students and having a good time. Let’s put the fun back in fundamentals!